The Bijlmermeer neighbourhood, which today houses almost 100,000 people of over 150 nationalities, was designed as a single project. The original neighbourhood was designed as a series of nearly identical high-rise buildings laid out in a hexagonal grid. The apartments were meant to attract a suburban set, rather like condominium housing. The buildings have several features that distinguish them from traditional Dutch high-rise flats, such as tubular walkways connecting the flats and garages. The blocks are separated by large green areas planted with grass and trees. Each flat has its own garages where cars can be parked.

The Bijlmer was designed with two levels of traffic. Cars drive on the top level, the decks of which fly over the lower level's pedestrian avenues and bicycle paths. This separation of fast and slow moving traffic is beneficial to traffic safety. However, in recent years, the roads are once again being flattened, so pedestrians, cycles and cars travel alongside each other. This is a move to lessen the effects of the 'inhuman' scale of some of the Bijlmer's designs. It is felt a direct line of sight will also improve safety from muggers.

Because of the Bijlmer's peripheral position relative to the city centre, it was decided a metro line was to be built towards the Bijlmer. The Oostlijn (east line, actually two lines later numbered 53 and 54) links the Bijlmer to the Central Station of Amsterdam, while the Ringlijn links it with the port area at Sloterdijk.

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High-rise buildings in the Bijlmermeer. Red are flats still standing, while gray is demolished. The plane icon marks the location of the El Al Flight 1862 crash.

Bijlmermeer was built for success, but until recently it struggled to attract many middle-class families. Reasons for this can be found in numerous areas. First, following Suriname's independence in 1975, many of its inhabitants migrated to the Netherlands. The government placed these immigrants in affordable social housing in the Bijlmermeer.

The neighbourhood quickly gained a reputation for being a "black" part of town. The relatively low incomes and social status of its inhabitants made for a problematic mix with the area's large scale buildings, which afforded little social control. It used to have a relatively high crime rate, but this has decreased dramatically in recent years; the number of registered complaints to the police decreased from 20,000 in 1995 (2,000 of which were robberies) to 8,000 (600 robberies) in 2005. The latter figure may be underreported due to the presence of illegal immigrants who are afraid to report crimes to the police.[1][2]

As people came and went, cheap social housing remained a central fixture of the area, attracting more immigrants. As a result, the Bijlmer lost its desirability to conservative middle-class families. The Bijlmer has always been host to many different ethnicities simultaneously. Throughout the years, claims of rising social segregation or ghettoization have been both denied, and pre-empted by local government. Due to its relative low cost housing, it has also been an attractive place to settle for avant garde artists and other city escapees.

After El Al Flight 1862 crashed into two Bijlmermeer buildings in 1992—an incident known as the Bijlmerramp, the Dutch word for "Bijlmer Disaster"—it was decided that the neighbourhood needed some further change. In recent years, many of the high rise buildings are being renovated or torn down. More expensive low-rise housing is being built, to attract more middle- and high-income residents. This resulted in significant reduction in crime and more balanced socio-economic composition, whilst at the same time maintaining the area's ethnic mix.

Amsterdam Zuidoost is host to Ajax Amsterdam's ArenA football stadium, which hosts football matches and musical concerts, the Pathé ArenA multiplex cinema with 14 screens, the Heineken Music Hall and music and theatres, located in the business park area of Amsterdam Zuidoost, just to the west of the Bijlmer. The recreational strip is called the ArenA Boulevard. The strip mostly hosts concerts, with a very small number of bars and no night clubs. It has not been able to compete with Amsterdam's city centre for the casual Saturday night crowd.

The Bijlmer boasts Amsterdam's biggest shopping centre, the "Amsterdamse Poort", though Amsterdam's city centre remains the largest shopping area. Alongside the shopping centre, the "Anton de Kom plein" (square) is completed, it houses a cultural centre and the borough administrative offices ("stadsdeelkantoor").

In 2012 the entire area from the Ziggo Dome in the west, Villa Arena home furnishings mall, the ArenA Boulevard and stadium, and the Amsterdamse Poort started being marketed as "ArenaPoort".[3]

The 74,000 square metres (800,000 sq ft) mixed-use GETZ Entertainment Centre is planned to open on the ArenA Boulevard, including retail, catering industry, leisure, several types of entertainment, a hotel and a culture cluster.[4][5]

The annual Kwakoe Festival is a six-weekend long, free, multicultural festival during the summer, with Surinamese, Antillean and African food, music and other events.